Dish-drainer



lhvirnn Sterns Partnr @Price STANLEY MANSFIELD, OF LOWELL,MASSACHUSETTS.

DISH-I-DRAINER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 435,148, dated August26, 1890.

Application lled'lllugust 20, l888 Serial No. 283,192. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, STANLEY MANSFIELD, a citizen of the United States,residiilg at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth ofMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inDish-Drainers, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to dish drainers or stands adapted to hold dishesand other articles used at meals, after being washed, to allow suchdishes to drain and dry. The dishd rainer hereinafter described isintended especially to be used in washing china, silver plate, and othersimilar expensive articlesof tablefurniture. In many families it iscustomary to keep such articles in suitable closets, safes, and'receptacles in the dining-room and not to allow them to be carried tothe kitchen, even to be washed, for fear of their being broken by thecarelessness of servants, the ladies of the house or a house-keeper orother person known to be careful washing suoli articles in thedining-room. Plates and dishes are frequently piled upon each other in apan after washing to allow them to drain, and by carelessness areallowed `to slip from the pile and to be broken or to have their edgesnicked by striking against each other or against the sides of the pancontaining them. Then dishes are so drained in a pan, parts of some ofthem remain in the water, which cools rapidly and interferes with thedrying of the plates.

The object of the invention hereinafter described is to provide asuitable table to receive such dishes and to hold them without apossibility of their slipping at such an inclination as to allow them todrain readily, such table being so constructed as to allow the dishes tobe placed on said table in their proper position before being let go,and so as to allow the fingers to be passed under the dishes and tograsp said dishes firmly before raising them; also, t-o provide asuitable receptacle for the water draining from the dishes, saidreceptacle to be enough lower than said table and of such capacity thata large number of such dishes may be drained into it without the waterrising in contact with the dishes; also, to provide a suitablecompartment for knives, forks, spoons, and

similar articles, where they may be kept out of contact with thedishes,which might be broken by suoli contact/,said compartment beingadapted to hold suchknives and other articles in a nearly-verticalposition, in order that they may drain more readily, and beingpreferably removable from the body of said drainer,in order that it maybe separately emptied.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an isometric view of adish-drainer construeted according to my invention, omitting the centralcompartment; and Fig. 2 is a vertical central section of the same and ofsaidcentral compartment.

The dish-drainer A, hereinafter described, is made in a circular form,though my invention could be embodied in a rectangular form, and ispreferably formed of sheet metal, as tin-plate. Said dish-drainer isprovided at its outer edge with a guard a, Verticalor nearly so, toretain the dishes within the drainer, and at the bottom of said guardand just within the same is provided with an annular gutter a to receivethe water drained from the dishes.

To the inner edge of the gutter a is secured the annularinclined-grooved table or water-shed a2, the same being shaped like thetrust-um of a hollow cone, except that its sides are provided withgrooves as, extending from the inner upper edge thereof to said glitterd. The object of these grooves is to atlord channels to conduct to thegutter the water dripping from the dishes or plates placed upon saidincline and to support said dishes with but small portions of theirsurfaces in contact with said incline, in order that the water may notbe retained between the dishes and the incline where the former touchthe latter, the dishes resting upon ribs between the grooves. Thegrooves a3 are large enough to allow the fingers tobe placedin themunder the plates and dishes resting on the table, thus enabling suchplates and dishes to be placed rmly on the table against the guardbefore letting go of them and enabling them to be firmly grasped beforeattempting to remove them from said table, thereby avoiding the dangerof their being broken by slipping' on the table against each otheroragainst the guard or by slipping from the lingers.. The

grooves d3 are also large enough to receive and retain tumblers, cups,and other articles of small diameter and circular in cross-section andprevent their rolling on said table and being nicked by striking againsteach other or against the guard a. The bottoni of the gutter a is placedconsiderably below the inner edge ot the table, and said gutter is ofsuiiicient capacity to hold the drainin gs from a large number of disheswithout said drainings rising high enough to come in contact with dishesplaced on said table, which would cool the dishes and prevent theirdrying, and is likewise adapted to receive the water in which the dishesare rinsed afterbein g placed upon the table a2, if desired.

The central opening d4 of the table d2 is preferably provided with acircular vertical guard a5, which prevents the rinsing-water turned onthe table a2 from running down through said opening.

Instead of forming the knife-receptacle in one piece with the drainer, Iprefer to use a tall cylindrical Vessel A', similar to an ordinaryquart-ineasure, in which said knives and other articles may be placed todrain, and which may be removed from the opening a4 when itis desired toempty the drainings from said knife-receptacle or for other reasons.

To facilitate the removal of the knife-receptacle from the drainer, saidreceptacle is provided at the top with an external annular flange as,which extends beyond the guard a5, and under which the ingers may beplaced to lift said knife-receptacle- I claim as my inventionl. Thecombination of the guard, the ribbed or grooved table inclined downwardtoward said guard, and the gutterarranged below the lower edge of saidtable between'said table and said guard, as and for the purpose specied.l

2. The combination of the annular table outwardly and downwardlyinclined and provided with ribs or grooves, a gutter into which saidgrooves discharge, and an annular guard arranged outside of said gutter,as and for the purpose speciiied.

3. rlhe combination of the annular table outwardly and downwardlyinclined and provided with ribs or grooves, a gutter into which saidgrooves discharge, an annular guard arranged outside of said gutter, andanother guard arranged at the inner edge of said table, as and for thepurpose specified.

4. The combination of the annular outwardly and downwardly inclinedtable provided with grooves, a gutter into which said grooves discharge,and a knife-receptacle arranged Wit-hin' the central opening of saidtable, as and for the purpose specified.

5. The combination of the annular outwardly and downwardly inclinedtable provided with grooves, a gutter into which said grooves discharge,an annular guard arranged outside of said gutter, and a knife-receptacleprovided at the top with an external annular flange and adapted to Iitthe central opening vof said table and to be removed therefrom, as

and 'for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification, in the presence oftwo attesting witnesses, this 17th day of August, A. D. 1888.

S ANLEY MANSFIELD. Witnesses:

MYR'rIE C. BEALs, ALBERT M. MOORE.

